Start Investing by 26, Retire a Millionaire by 67

Man it was hard getting up this morning! I think i overdosed on hazelnutt coffee yesterday while sitting in 9-hour beach traffic…which is sad, considering i’m sipping on MORE as we speak ;) Addicted much? haha…

At any rate, I came across a link for the Motley Fool in my inbox the other day, and think you might enjoy it. It’s one of those “million dollar calculation” type articles, which are always fascinating to me – especially considering i’m working on my OWN millionaire plan!

The stats, themselves, never change of course, but the way people write about them sure do. This particular article states that if you do the following ONE TIME ONLY in a year, you could be ritch b*tch! (in the voice of dave chappelle on james brown):

Max out your 401k contributions for the year

Max out your IRA contributions for the year

Earn historical average returns of 10%

And do so by the age of 26.

You will become a millionaire by the time you retire!

Sexy, right? Sure thing, but as cool as it sounds (anything to do with a million dollars is cool to me!), it’s not as simple or easy to do. A lot of the variables are discussed in the article, but to reach the above, for example, it means you’d have to come up with that initial $20,500! Y-I-K-E-S.

Compound interest is your friend, but it sure doesn’t perform miracles ;) Plus, there’s the whole “inflation” stuff, but that’s another story. The Fool also adds:

In order for most 26-year-olds to save $20,500 in a single year, they’d eitherneed to find a fabulously high-paying job or a rent-free room in their parents’basement. Either way, they’d probably be living on a strict diet of ramennoodles.

Haha…agreed. Of course, saving a butt-load early on is killer for any goals you might have. Just because you can’t be superman and invest a huge lump sum like that, by all means keep plopping those dollars into your account!

And if your goal is to indeed reach that $1 million dollar mark, then create your own plan and stick to it (I used this millionaire calculator to get started on my personal goal). You’ll be that much closer either way you look at it.

And be sure to holler back too so we can track your progress and learn :)

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Disclaimer

I, J. Money, only claim the thoughts from my head. I am not a banker, CPA, money manager or anything else of that sort. Please seek a professional for any "real" advice. More info: privacy & disclosure page